Automatic apparatus for the yarn guide member during doffing



1963 EIZABURO NEGISHI 3,

AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR THE YARN GUIDE MEMBER DURING DOFFING Filed July 11, 1962 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 2

INVENTOR.

1963 EIZABURO NEGISHI 3,113,414 AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR THE YARN GUIDE MEMBER DURING DOFFING Filed July 11, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IIIIIIIIIIII [III/II BY Emma A/EGMH Mew INVENTOR.

Dec. 10, 1963 EIZABURO NEGlSHl AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR THE YARN GUIDE MEMBERDURING DOFFING 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 11, 1962 INVENTOR 12121113030 A/EGLSjH United States Patent C) 3,113,414 AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR THE YARN GUIDE MEMBER DURING DOFFING Eizaburo N egishi, 93 Gaza Nalrasato, Yono City, Saitama, Japan Filed July 11, 1962, Ser. No. 209,082 Claims priority, application Japan July 31, 1961 6 Claims. (Cl. 57-54') This invention relates to spinning or twisting machines, and more particularly to an apparatus for automatically controlling the building and doffing motion of a yarn guide member in a spinning machine or a twisting machine.

It has long been a goal of the spinning industry automatically to control the yarn guide member (that is, the ring rail in a ring spinning frame or the yarn guide rail in a pot spinning machine), and more than a few attempts have been made to develop devices for such automation. However, the known devices permit automatic descent of the yarn guide member during dofiin-g to its lowest position where it is allowed to stand motionless until dofling is completed. It is then necessary to push a button in order to return said yarn guide member to the position where it was at the beginning of spinning. Such devices are not suitable for a fully automatic spinning machine or an automatic twisting machine to be designed in the future.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an apparatus free from the limitations of the known devices. It is another object of the invention to provide a control apparatus capable of automatically shifting La yarn guide member from dofiing motion to spinning motion. It is still another object of the invention to facilitate the manufacture of an automatic spinning or twisting machine, at least a part of which is to be made automatic.

According to this invention, these objects are accomplished by the provision of a rocker arm which supports a lifting chain, and a wheel contiguous to the rocker arm. The wheel is actuated during dofling and stopped immediately upon completion of its predetermined rotation, and first and second engaging elements on the wheel engage the rocker arm to slacken and tension the lifting chain in the desired manner.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment when taken in connection with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a motion diagram of the yarn guide member during spining and the subsequent dofling;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational overall view of an apparatus for imparting motions to a yarn guide member diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 2 on a larger scale;

FIG. 4 is a view of the device of FIG. 3 from the opposite side;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the device of FIGS. 3 and 4; and

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of another portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1 on the scale of FIGS. 2 to 4.

In FIG. 1, the ordinate indicates the level of a vertically reciprocating yarn guide member such as a ring rail, and the abscissa represents time.

The motion of the yarn guide member during spinning starts with a rise and fall motion between the points a and b gradually developing into a building motion through the points (I -b to a -b said motion being the known building motion. When the building motion during spinning reaches the point c where the cop is of a predetermined size, the device of this invention initiates a motion of the yarn guide member for dofiing. An ini- "ice tial descending motion takes place from the point e to the point e, followed by an ascending motion from the point e to the point f and a second descending motion from the point f to the point g. The guide member is then transferred from the point g to the point a whereupon the next spinning motion starts between the points a -b The afore-described motion of the yarn guide member permits the cop to be doffed by the motion of the yarn guide member itself in an automatic spinning or twisting machine expected to be manufactured in the future.

The apparatus for actuating the afore-described motion of the yarn guide member is illustrated in FIG. 2 to FIG. FIG. 6.

The apparatus includes a wheel A and a rocker arm B which are inoperative during spinning but are actuated automatically during dofiing. A signal for initiating movement of the wheel A and the rocker mm B may be derived in a conventional manner from an element (not shown) which moves with the yarn guide assembly D when said guide assembly reaches the point 0 in FIG. 1. It may also be derived from a counter (not shown) arranged to count the number of revolutions of a front roller assembly F when the cop reaches a predetermined size. It may further be derived from a timer (not shown) set for the time necessary for the formation of a predetermined size of cop, or the like. In response to the signahan electrical circuit (not shown) of an electromagnet 89 is closed, whereby the magnet attracts an arresting pawl and swings the pawl around its pivot 83 to disengage it from a notch 82 of a disk 81 and to move it to the position shown in dotted lines at 85.

An arm 86 on the pawl 85' is simultaneously caused to push a button 87 of a switch 88. The switch energizes a motor 1 which drives the wheel A.

The wheel A is mounted on a common shaft 48 adjacent the rocker arm B, as shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 5, and has two recesses 52, 52' for coupling engagement with said rocker ai m. During the spinning operation, the arm B is coupled to the recess 52' as shown in FIG. 2, and the arm and rocker are motionless. When the wheel A is driven by the motor 1, the rocker arm B rotates with the wheel A until one arm of a bell crank lever 47 best seen in FIG. 5 strikes a fixed abutment 46. The bell crank lever, is attached to the arm B by a pivot pin 45 and is pivoted about the pin by the abutment 46. A coupling rod G is connected by a pin 43' to the other arm of the lever 47 and is guided in an aperture of the arm B. When the lever 47 strikes the abutment 46, the rod G is pulled axially from the recess 52 so as to uncouple the rocker arm B from the wheel A. The rocker arm B then drops to its normal position shown in FIG. 3 in which a projection 49 on the arm B abuts: against a stop 51 on the machine frame.

The dropping of the rocker arm B slackens a lifting chain E (FIG. 2) one end of which is attached to a drum 35, whereas the other end is attached to a sector lever 61, and two inter-mediate parts of the chain are trained over a pulley '40 on the machine frame and a pulley 41 on the rocker arm. The yarn guide assembly D is held in a raised position c by the tension of said chain. When the chain slackeus, the assembly D' starts descending, moving under its own weight from the point 0 to the point e as shown in FIG. 1. The downward velocity of the yarn guide assembly and the distance over which it descends can be adjusted by selecting the dimensions of a dash pot 67 in which oil 69 passes through a hole 72 in a piston 66. The piston is connected by a rod 64 and a pin 63 to an arm 62 of the sector lever 61. A nut 65 is threaded on the rod 64. The dash pot 67 is hingedly attached to a fixed base 71 by a pin 70.

The downward velocity of the yarn guide assembly is determined by the selected diameter of the hole 72, While the limit of downward movement can be adjusted by setting the position of the nut 65 on the rod 64. Downward movement of the assembly D causes the nut 65 to abut against the cap 68' of the dash pot and thus to stop the movement of the sector level 61.

The yarn guide assembly D includes a ring rail 78 carrying yarn guide rings in the usual manner, and a lifting rod 77 on which the rail 78 is mounted. Vertical movement of the rod is actuated by an arm 76 fixedly attached to a pulley 75 which is rotatably mounted on the machine frame. The two ends of an elongated tension member 74 are respectively fastened to the pulley 75 and to a pulley 73 fastened to the lever 61 for rotation about the pivot of the lever. The combined Weight of the guide assembly D and of the lever 61 keeps the member 74 under tension.

During further rotation of wheel A the recess 52 on said wheel reaches a position G in which it is aligned with the sliding rod G on the rocker arm B. The tip of the sliding rod G enters the recess 52 under the resilient urging of a spring 44 (FIG. 5) whereby the rocker arm B is coupled to the wheel A. The rocker arm B rotates again with the wheel A and moves the pulley 41 to the original position for spinning as shown in FIG. 2. The lifting chain E is tensioned by the upward movement of the pulley 41 whereby the yarn guide assembly D is lifted. The yard guide assembly thus approaches the point 1 from the point e as shown in FIG. 1 while the rocker arm B further moves up toward the spinning position until the bell crank lever on said rocker arm again strikes the abutment 46. The rod G is disengaged from the recess 52 on the wheel A and the rocker arm B drops again so that the yarn guide assembly descends from the point to the point g.

As the rotation of the wheel A proceeds, the recess 52' takes the place of the recess 52 in FIG. 2, and moves toward the position G at which the rod G enters the recess 52. Then the rocker arm B again moves up with the wheel A so as to raise the yarn guide assembly D.

Meanwhile, the above mentioned electric circuit for the electromagnet 89 has been opened and the pawl 85 travels over the circumference of the disk 81. The rotation of the wheel A proceeds further. Upon completion of one revolution, the notch 82 on the disk 81 which rotates with the wheel A registers with the pawl 85. The pawl drops into the notch 82 and the button 87 of the switch 38 is released by the arm 86 of the pawl 85.

The release of the switch 88 results in the reversal of the motor 1, which then drives a belt 2 in a direction opposite to the arrow shown in FIG. 2. A train of gears 9, and 11 is connected to a gear 8 on a motor-pulley 3 driven by the belt 2. The gear train rotates backwards so that a pawl 12 will ride idly on a ratchet wheel 13 fastened to the gear 11. A worm 14 connected to the ratchet wheel 13 for joint rotation engages a worm gear rim on the wheel A. The wheel stops, and the apparatus is again in the original position for spinning. The motion of the yarn guide assembly D for dofiing is completed.

Simultaneously, a pawl 4 on the motor-pulley 3 drivingly engages a ratchet wheel 6 so as to rotate a main drive shaft 5', which in turn rotates a cylindrical roller 7 and a gear 15 thereon. The rotation of the gear 15 actuates the rotation of the front roller F through a train of gears 16, 17, 18 and 25. The rotation of a Worm 19 driven by the gear 18 actuates a worm wheel 20, a vertical shaft 21, bevel gears 22 and 23, and a cam 24. A roller 31 (FIG. 6) travels over the face of the cam so as to impart to a builder assembly the known building motion, which in turn is transferred to the yarn guide member for spinning motion.

The builder assembly includes a swinging bracket 32 on which the cam-follower roller 31 is mounted. A shaft 33 on the bracket 32 rotatably supports a worm terclockwise direction about the axis of shaft 33, as viewed in FIG. 2.

The drum 35 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 33. A spring 93 urges the two halves 91, 92 of a clutch interposed between the drum 35 and the worm wheel 34 into engagement. An electromagnet 94 is provided for disen gaging the clutch against the spring action.

During spinning, the worm 38 is gradually rotated in the direction of the arrow (FIG. 6) in a manner well known and therefore not illustrated, in order to shift the range of the reciprocating movement of the yarn guide assembly D from LI -b through a b toward 0 -12 The reciprocating strokes of this movement are actuated by the cam 24 which pivots the bracket 32 and thereby alternatingly tensions and relaxes the chain E trained over the drum 35. When spinning of a cop is completed, the chain E is unwound to its original length from the drum 35 by an unwinding device.

A projection (FIG. 4) on the wheel A is provided for actuating a switch (not shown) which opens and closes the circuit of the electromagnet 94. When during each revolution of the wheel A the yarn guide assembly D is to be lowered from the point f to the point g by loosening of the chain E, the projection 95 closes the switch, and the drum 35 is disconnected from the worm wheel 34 by the electromagnet 94 which attracts its armature 96.

The drum 35 rotates under the weight of the lifting chain E until the length of the lifting chain E between the drum 35 and the sector lever 61 is restored as needed for spinning.

When the electromagnet 94 is deenergized, the drum 35 is moved by the spring 93 toward the worm wheel 34 whereby the clutch halves 91 and 92 are engaged for the subsequent spinning operation.

The afore-described embodiment permits the objects of this invention to be accomplished by a relatively simple mechanism. It will be understood, however, that many changes and modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of this invention, and that this invention is not limited to the embodiment described and illustrated.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for operating yarn guide means during doffing in a spinning machine and the like comprising, in combination:

(a) lifting chain means adapted to be connected to said yarn guide means for operating the same;

(b) a rocker arm member supporting said lifting chain means by sustaining a part thereof;

(0) a wheel member rotatable adjacent said rocket arm member;

(d) actuating means for actuating rotation of said wheel member during dofiing and for stopping said wheel member immediately upon completion of a predetermined rotation; and

(e) first and second engaging means provided on said wheel member for selective engagement of said wheel member with said rocker arm member during two respective portions of said predetermined rotation, whereby said members move jointly while engaged when said wheel member is rotated by said actuating means.

2. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising rod means slidable on said rocker arm member toward and away from a position of engagement with the engaging means on said wheel member, and disengaging means for moving said rod means away from said position thereof when said rocker arm member reaches a predetermined position during joint movement with said wheel member.

3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said actuating means include an electric motor, arresting means movable for arresting and releasing said wheel, and switch means responsive to movement of said arresting means and in circuit with said motor for controlling the same.

4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising drum means, said chain means being mounted on said drum means for winding thereon and unwinding therefrom; drive means for rotating said drum means in a direction for winding said chain means on said drum means; clutch means interposed between said drum means and said drive means, said clutch means being movable between a position in which the same connect said drum means and said drive means for joint rotation, and a position in which said drum means is disengaged from said drive means and free to rotate for unwinding said chain means; resilient means urging said clutch means toward one of said positions; and electrically operated means for moving said clutch means into the other position against the restraint of said resilient means.

5. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the yarn guide means comprises a movable yarn guide member secured to said chain means for movement thereby when said chain means is tensioned, and dash pot means for controlling movement of said yarn guide member when said chain means is slack.

6. An apparatus for controlling movement of yarn guide means during dofiing in a spinning machine and the like comprising, in combination:

(a) lifting chain means adapted to be attached to said yarn guide means for actuating movement of the same;

(b) rocker arm means mounted for movement toward and away from a normal position and connected to said chain means for actuating movement of said yarn guide means when said rocker arm means moves away from said normal position thereof;

(0) wheel means rotatable about an axis;

(d) actuating means for actuating rotary movement of said wheel means during dofiing and for stopping said movement after a predetermined rotation of said wheel means about said axis; and

(e) first and second engaging means, said engaging means each being mounted on said wheel means for coupling said rocker arm means to said wheel means for movement of said rocker arm means away from said normal position thereof during a respective portion of said predetermined rotation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,503,099 Culbreath Apr. 4, 1950 2,798,356 Christiansson July 9, 1957 3,080,701 Kennedy et a1 Mar. 12, 1963 3,097,475 Hooper et a1 July 16, 1963 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR OPERATING YARN GUIDE MEANS DURING DOFFING IN A SPINNING MACHINE AND THE LIKE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: (A) LIFTING CHAIN MEANS ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTED TO SAID YARN GUIDE MEANS FOR OPERATING THE SAME; (B) A ROCKER ARM MEMBER SUPPORTING SAID LIFTING CHAIN MEANS BY SUSTAINING A PART THEREOF; (C) A WHEEL MEMBER ROTATABLE ADJACENT SAID ROCKET ARM MEMBER; (D) ACTUATING MEANS FOR ACTUATING ROTATION OF SAID WHEEL MEMBER DURING DOFFING AND FOR STOPPING SAID WHEEL MEMBER IMMEDIATELY UPON COMPLETION OF A PREDETERMINED ROTATION; AND (E) FIRST AND SECOND ENGAGING MEANS PROVIDED ON SAID WHEEL MEMBER FOR SELECTIVE ENGAGEMENT OF SAID WHEEL MEMBER WITH SAID ROCKER ARM MEMBER DURING TWO RESPECTIVE PORTIONS OF SAID PREDETERMINED ROTATION, WHEREBY SAID MEMBERS MOVE JOINTLY WHILE ENGAGED WHEN SAID WHEEL MEMBER IS ROTATED BY SAID ACTUATING MEANS. 